Archive for August, 2010

6 Tips for Talking with Your Kids About Divorce

This post was originally intended for Man of the House, but it’s kind of personal and so I’d rather share it with you here.  It’s a bit off my usual focus here, but family is important… “Daddy, why don’t you and mommy live together anymore?” [Silence.] About a year ago, that question stopped me in my tracks. It came from my son, Kaden, who was two years old at the time.  I can remember noticing what seemed to be a sad look on his face while we prepared dinner one evening.  I was heartbroken by such a valid and genuine question from my little guy. But it got me thinking. Divorce is hard on kids of any age. I remember growing up in a split home, during the late-80s and early-90s, and dealing with issues of low self-esteem and lack of trust.  I also always seemed to have trouble making friends at school.  My parents split when I was five and the sudden changes in routines, locations and home life hit me pretty hard.  There were occasions where I would get sick to my stomach for no apparent reason other than being stressed and upset.  The upholstery in my Opa’s Volkswagen Golf would ultimately pay the price (more than once). Kids Remember More Than You Think Kaden’s mom and I split not long before his third birthday.  We thought that because he was so young it might be easier for him. Maybe, we hoped, he simply wouldn’t remember how things were before the marriage ended.  We were even fortunate enough that the marriage ended on good terms. Unfortunately, the consensus of experts is that most children gain the ability to recall memories somewhere between the ages two and five years old. Taking that to heart, I think it’s a safer bet for parents to err on the side of caution.  Even [...]

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Getting EPIC in Detroit: #EpicTweetup

The fact that Twitter has now become a reason to gather fascinates me. Cheryl and I had the chance to travel to a gathering of of the cool Twitter kids in Detroit this weekend.  The EPIC Chevy Tweetup went off exactly as it was branded: EPICally. It seems there are loads of things happening in Detroit these days.  That might contradict what you’ve heard (or not heard) on the news.  I think the recent groundswell around technology and innovation is a result of how tight-knit the social media community is up there. And yet, we were welcomed from three-and-a-half hours away as a part of the crowd.  That’s just cool. Folks like Charlie and Elena Wollberg made us feel so comfortable and filled us in on who Detroit is changing.  Becky Johns was the reason we heard about EPIC in the first place.  She was kind enough to introduce us to a whole crew of people.  And have you looked at my Twitter background recently?  Twilk is the work of Kyle Mulka, who’s also out of Detroit.  What was classic was watching Brandon Chesnutt and Christopher Barger rock many a tune during the live band karaoke portion of the night.  These dudes know how to win over crowds. What Makes a Tweetup EPIC It’s ironic that on the drive up to Michigan, I was reminded of “plur” while listening to Tony Hsieh read his book, Delivering Happiness. You see, back in early days of college, I was one of the kids who caught the tail end of the rave scene.  My friends and I danced nights away deep in the underground of vacant warehouses and closed-down skating rinks.  The electronic sounds of DJs like Bad Boy Bill, Tiesto and even Paul Okenfold fed the parties with enough energy to light up a city.  At raves, plur was a [...]

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Extending the Event Experience Online

Meet my friend Becky Johns. She’s one of the many talented folks living, working and making media art up in the great state of Michigan.  Becky is a self-taught, uber-talented photographer and rising PR rock star.  She’s also a blast to hang out with.  All things considered, it’s not hard to see why she’s popping up on radar.  Oh, yeah… Becky’s also just 23 – a shining member of Generation Y.  Imagine that. I’m excited to be able to share some of her content with you today, just before Cheryl and I head up to visit Becky and about 541 other cool kids at the EPIC Detroit Tweetup.  I’ll shut up now.  Here’s Becky… The beauty of meetups, tweetups, conferences and events is the opportunity to take online connections and turn them into real life ones. Capturing the essence of an event with different types of media offers organizers the ability to repurpose content, share success stories and develop future marketing material for their organizations. In order to do this, it’s important to think about how to translate what’s happening in the room to an online presence. Having been part of social media coverage teams for several types of events, I offer you a list of things to consider… Shareability – If many event attendees will be likely to share what they’re experiencing, make it easy for them to do so: Create a link-rich web hub with information about speakers or performers so those trying to share have easy access to the correct Twitter handles, websites, etc. for sharing purposes. Determine a Twitter hashtag prior to the event and share with attendees at the beginning. Ensure it’s visible throughout the event. If you can gather Twitter handles during the registration process, do so and create a list of attendees, making it easier to keep track [...]

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